R&D Intern (Summer 2027)

Location: Indianapolis, IN

At Elanco (NYSE: ELAN) – it all starts with animals!

As a global leader in animal health, we are dedicated to innovation and delivering products and services to prevent and treat disease in farm animals and pets. At Elanco, we are driven by our vision of Food and Companionship Enriching Life and our purpose – all to Go Beyond for Animals, Customers, Society and Our People.

At Elanco, we pride ourselves on fostering a diverse and inclusive work environment. We believe that diversity is the driving force behind innovation, creativity, and overall business success. Here, you’ll be part of a company that values and champions new ways of thinking, work with dynamic individuals, and acquire new skills and experiences that will propel your career to new heights.

Making animals’ lives better makes life better – join our team today!

Your Role: R&D Intern (Summer 2027)

As an R&D Intern, you will lead a project that supports Elanco’s clinical development, regulatory, and innovation processes through data-driven insights and advanced analytics. In this role, you will help Elanco deliver products to customers by:

Identifying and characterizing target indication areas and biological mechanisms of disease

Applying statistical and AI/ML approaches to clinical and real-world data

Designing data structures and workflows that enable discovery and decision-making across species

Evaluating regulatory or clinical pathways and study designs to support product development

Interns may be placed in one of several teams, including but not limited to:

Mechanistic Biology

R&D AI & Data Strategy

Clinical & Non-Clinical Development

Statistics

Regulatory and Pharmacovigilance

Your Responsibilities

Execute project deliverables with an innovative, hypothesis-driven approach and a focus on clear business impact

Manage and curate data sets (e.g., biological, clinical, or real-world data) to identify key trends and insights

Apply quantitative methods (e.g., statistical modeling, AI/ML, or mechanistic reasoning) to answer R&D and clinical development questions

Collaborate with cross-functional stakeholders (scientists, clinicians, data scientists, regulatory experts) to refine questions and interpret results

Participate in regular check-ins, presenting progress and interim results to your supervisor and project team

Deliver a final presentation summarizing your project objectives, methods, results, and key learnings to R&D colleagues and the intern community

What You Need to Succeed (Minimum Qualifications)

Education: Currently enrolled in a STEM or quantitative field such as chemistry, biology, biochemistry, molecular biology, microbiology, biomedical engineering, bioinformatics, computational biology, computer science, data science, statistics, biostatistics, applied mathematics, or other related fields

Degree: Bachelor’s, Master’s, or PhD

Academic Progress: Students must return to a degree seeking program for the fall semester following the completion of the internship.

Technical Skills and Core Competencies

Strong critical thinking skills and the ability to translate scientific or business questions into analytical approaches

High attention to detail and commitment to data quality and reproducibility

Strong communication skills, including the ability to explain complex concepts to technical and non-technical audiences

Collaborative mindset and ability to work effectively on multidisciplinary teams

Comfort working with data (e.g., organizing, cleaning, exploring, and summarizing datasets)

Ability to learn and apply analytical tools (e.g., statistical software, scripting languages, or data visualization tools)

What Will Give You a Competitive Edge (Preferred Qualifications):

Academic Progress: Expected graduation date between December 2027 and August 2028 with intention of entering industry following degree completion.

Area-Specific Experience (depending on interest and placement):

Mechanistic Biology: PhD, DVM, or DVM/PhD student with a background in life sciences (e.g., biology, molecular biology, immunology, bioinformatics) with experience working with scientific data sets and a strong interest in connecting biological mechanisms to disease and therapeutic targets.

R&D AI & Data Strategy: Graduate student with degree focus that bridges biology and computation (e.g., bioinformatics, computational biology, data science, computer science with strong biological exposure), proficiency in Python and scientific data packages, and interest in graph-based data integration or machine learning.

Statistics: Graduate student with training in statistics/biostatistics or related quantitative field, proficiency with statistical software (e.g., R, SAS, Python), and interest in modern methods such as innovative study designs and AI statistical methods for clinical data.

Clinical & Non-Clinical Development: Exposure to or strong interest in clinical trial design and non-clinical development disciplines such as pharmacokinetics, DMPK, safety, and toxicology; comfort working with structured study data from preclinical and clinical studies, and motivation to apply quantitative and evidence-based thinking to support dose selection, safety/efficacy assessments, and overall development strategies.

Regulatory and Pharmacovigilance: Interest in regulatory science, safety monitoring, and structured evaluation of benefit-risk profiles for medicinal products; familiarity with regulatory or pharmacovigilance concepts is a plus.

Additional Information

Travel:  0%

Location: Indianapolis, IN – Elanco Headquarters (hybrid flexibility may depend on team and project)

Elanco’s Internship Program

Our internship program is designed to give students meaningful, hands-on experience as they kickstart their careers. Internships are project-based and focused on business-critical needs, giving every intern the opportunity to make a meaningful impact on Elanco’s success over the summer. At